topic Re: My Current Credit Standing :( Suggestions? in Rebuilding Your Credit

My Current Credit Standing :( Suggestions?

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:45:31 GMT

Well here it goes, Last year (Sept07-Dec07) I went through a rough patch and didnt have a job and I was forced to let some things slide as far as payments are concerned SOOOO, today I decided to check my credit report and see how much damage was done.... TU - 578 EQ - 558 EX - 552 I have 5 revolving accounts as follows Chase CC - Credit Limit $1000 with a 600 Balance Citi Card CC - $4000 Credit Limit with a 3300 Balance Capital 1 CC - $500 Limit with a 400 Balance Dell Computer - $2000 Limit 1700 Balance Zales CC - $500 Limit with a Zero Balance During the rough patch 2 went 90 days past due and the other went 60 days past due. My avg. account age is 2 years. The Chase account was closed by chase during the ruff patch. On the citi card account i called and had them close the account and set me up on a payment plan because it was over the limit and the payments were killing me. Since the rough patch ive paid everything on time and gotten the accounts to balances above. I dont have any public records or collections. My goal is to get my credit scores to 650+ What should I do? Goodwill letters? At what point should I start sending them? Any other advice? Thanks in Advance!!

Re: My Current Credit Standing :( Suggestions?

fused — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:56:58 GMT

Welcome to the forums! The scores you posted, are they FICOs? The 90-day-lates and the high util on your credit cards are tanking your scores. How much cash do you have on hand to pay down these balances? Paying off CC debt is one of the fastest ways to improve your FICO scores.

Re: My Current Credit Standing :( Suggestions?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:05:46 GMT

Yea, They are FICO's as I got my score from this site. As far as paying them off goes im on a mission to have them paid in full by Jan-Feb09. How much will my credit score jump up once I get them paid off? This is a super huge issue for me and Ill do whatever to get all this in check... Im really embarrassed about the whole thing

Re: My Current Credit Standing :( Suggestions?

RobertEG — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:23:07 GMT

Hi supertee, and welcome to the forum.

The two biggest factors in your score are lates and %util.

Your are at 60% util or above in four accounts, and above 70% overall. This is the biggest factor hurting your score.

Get them all down below 50% as a big first start. First major increase in scoring is to get all accounts below 50% util, with the goal of under 10%.

The lates are apparently legitimate. You can try to GW them away, but that is only at the mercy of the CCC wolves. So no harm in a try. Sooner the better. Lots of crocodile tears.

Closing the CITI account was not good for FICO score, for once it reaches zero balance, you will lose all of its agiing history, along with its CL of $4000. Your CL will drop, your %util will go up, and you will lose its time in your avg account aging.

Re: My Current Credit Standing :( Suggestions?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:33:12 GMT

With the Citi Card thing... the balance was at like 4500 so it was like 500 over the limit... so i called and had them put me on a payment plan. After the payment plan finished they reopened the account.